Working from anywhere: work becomes flexible!

06.11.2017

“Remote work”, “flex offices”, and “shared workspaces” … these are a few of the emerging terms to describe new ways of working. These innovative concepts reveal more organizational freedom, optimized processes and greater responsibility for employees. Take a look at the top three initiatives advanced by BNP Paribas.

Lending spare office space to business customers

From now on, corporate customers from certain companies can organize a meeting or workday in Paris with ease–and at a low cost! The Group offers its customers several fully equipped offices, situated on its premises at various sites throughout Paris, for a symbolic fee of €1 per day!

To reserve an office space, BNP Paribas customers must use the premises of the start-up Bird Office, which allows companies to rent out unused office space to make its offices more affordable. BNP Paribas is going even further by providing a free service for corporate customers. Want to have a meeting on Avenue Kleber or in the Opéra neighborhood? Use one of BNP Paribas’s locations!

Find the offices provided by BNP Paribas

Remote work–working in "flex" mode

Desktop virtualization, Cloud computing collaboration SaaS applications (“Software as a Service”, or software installed on a remote server and freely accessible by a company), digitalization of documents and exchanges —all these technological changes and new behaviors are shaking up the way we organize the office… and work!

With remote work, companies are granting their employees more responsibility and the opportunity to work outside of the traditional office setting. BNP Paribas allows its employees to work remotely for one or two days per week. With new technologies, they can work just as efficiently at home as in the office. Their smartphones also give them full access to their work environment from anywhere–company data, applications and message systems all in the palm of their hand.

Rethinking a company’s office space

More and more, it’s the office that is adapting to employees, and not the other way around!

The BNP Paribas Group has redesigned some of its premises through a “FlexOffice” concept: individual workstations are standardized and no longer attributed to specific employees, who can now sit wherever they like when they arrive at the office. In addition, the bank also has co-working spaces dedicated to meetings and group work.

The new office arrangement aligns with two observations:

Employees no longer use their offices for their full workday; between absences, time off and business trips, offices remain unused for up to a third of the day. Giving a personal workspace to each employee is now a waste of space.

Better organized workspaces can improve the work atmosphere, well-being and team spirit. The goal is to provide real comfort everywhere: offices, discussion areas, rest and relaxation spaces, cafeteria, etc.

Remote work agreement: a major success!

At BNP Paribas, the first remote work agreement was signed in 2014, and the second in 2016…

To launch the trial program, employees at pilot sites could opt to work remotely for a portion of the week. Half of those asked decided to take part in the adventure. Among them, two thirds chose to work remotely one day a week and the rest chose two days. The results? An overall satisfaction rate of 100 %!

Remote work has promised many benefits and advantages: less fatigue and fewer commutes for people who live far from the office, more welcoming workspaces thanks to the extra space created in the office, etc.

By the end of 2017, more than 5,000 employees will switch to a partial remote work arrangement!